Swanlights (LP)

Antony & The Johnsons

Amoeba Review

10/12/2010

Though his signature style is a penetrating, abyss-gazing alto croon, something like a gothic Nina Simone, Antony Hegarty is hardly confined by the one thing, and on Swanlights, he lets a surprising number of styles roam free. "Fletta," a duet with Bjork, starts and stops and uncoils in wildly unexpected fits and starts. Elsewhere the rhythms romp and trot while Antony's voice whirls above the crowd, and yet elsewhere he warps and punishes his voice to evoke the torture of a dying animal. Arrangements by Nico Muhly are always full and fearless, and the Johnsons play with aplomb on quite a challenging range of material. Though there is less of the plangent balladry than ever, this introduces us to a much richer, more musically diverse Antony than we ever knew.